Study: Students Who Smoke Pot Get “Higher” Grades

Not too many associate high achieving students with under-age drinking and smoking marijuana. But according to a study of British adolescents, the group is more likely to pick up those habits than their less academically gifted peers.

The study tracked 6,000 teenagers use of tobacco, alcohol and pot from ages 11 to 20. During their early teens, the smarter students were less likely to smoke cigarettes than their peers. But they were more likely to say they drank alcohol during the same period than the other students.

As they grew older, the more academically inclined students were 50 percent more likely to use pot occasionally and nearly twice as likely to use it regularly than their peers. They were also twice as likely to have developed a regular drinking habit.

The researchers speculate the high achieving students may be more open to new experiences or possibly have more access to alcohol.